Chiappino Vitelli
Giovan Luigi "Chiappino" Vitelli (1519 – July 1575)[1][2] was an Italian nobleman and military leader who was Marquis of Cetona. He became a general and diplomat for Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and stayed in the service of his son, Philip II of Spain, serving as Governor of Piombino and as Spanish ambassador to England.
Biography[edit]
He was the son of Niccolò Vitelli,[3] whom he avenged from his murder to along with his brother Paolo.
Vitelli served as a captain under Cosimo I de' Medici in his wars to gain Florence, Siena and Montalcino, and was appointed governor of Piombino (1543). He joined the Italian Wars in the side of the House of Habsburg in 1544, participating in battles against the French and Ottomans led by Hayreddin Barbarossa. He failed to defend Talamona and Porto Ercole, but in turn repealed the Franco-Turk forces in Orbetello along with Stefano Colonna and the local Spanish tercios, defeating French mercenary general Leone Strozzi. Afterwards, he helped Viceroy Pedro de Toledo to drown a revolt in Naples, and also served in naval encounters under Andrea Doria against Barbarossa and Dragut.
After Charles V's death, Cosimo sent him as the Tuscan ambassador to the Spanish court, where King Philip II recruited him to expel the French garrison of Montalcino. Vitelli accomplished this through a mix of bribes and threats, impressing the monarch. In 1556 he was made marquis of Cetona, a title which he acquired from Cosimo I de' Medici. He would then serve under García Álvarez de Toledo y Osorio against the Muslims, participating in the 1564 Spanish conquest of the Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera after the failed expedition the previous year, and also was part of the relief forces of the Great Siege of Malta.
Eventually he became part of the Tercio de Lombardía under Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alba. He was also a general in the Spanish Army of Flanders, as well as Spanish ambassador to the England of Elizabeth I.
In Italy, he restored the fortress and built the Piazza Vitelli town square (1559),[4] today the Piazza Garibaldi, as well as the Palazzo Vitelli which can be seen today, holding a significant art collection.[5] He used acquisitions from other places, such as a belltower from Montepescali, a town he had surrounded near Grosseto (1555).[6]
His military inventions include a siege technique, first tried at the town of Mons in, for the Spanish Duke of Alba (1572).[7] Vitelli was famously obese, so much that he needed a special belt to be able to move around.[8]
He died in the Netherlands in 1575.
References[edit]
- ^ Who's who Archived June 12, 2007, at the Wayback Machine from medici.org
- ^ Biography Archived June 13, 2007, at the Wayback Machine from Note biografiche di Capitani di Guerra e di Condottieri di Ventura operanti in Italia nel 1330 - 1550
- ^ Gli artisti di Palazzo Vitelli a Sant' Egidio Archived June 29, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Feste Giostre e Tornei Archived July 4, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ History of Cetona Archived July 19, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Montepescali, history and tales Archived April 23, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Military science in the sixteenth century Archived February 28, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Eugenio Alberi, Le relazioni degli ambasciatori veneti al senato durante il sec. XVI,1839, pag. 340
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